Congratulations to Bath Rugby fly-half Tom Heathcote, who will make his first start for Scotland on Saturday against Samoa.
Heathcote, at 21 years of age, is a very exciting prospect and has, with performances full of attacking flair and excellent reliability from the kicking tee, already made himself a favourite with the Rec faithful.
There are three new caps in the team for the game in Durban, with Edinburgh Rugby full-back Greig Tonks and the Glasgow Warriors duo, centre Alex Dunbar and hooker Pat MacArthur all making their first appearances.
In addition there are a further three uncapped players on the bench, Stevie Lawrie, Peter Horne and Duncan Taylor, while Heathcote is one of two players who have just one cap so far, with Grant Gilchrist of Edinburgh named at lock.
In an interview with www.scottishrugby.org Scotland head coach Scott Johnson said: "We want to broaden the base and it (selection) gives us the perfect opportunity to see how these guys stand up in Test footy."
Johnson ranked Scotland's win in Samoa last year as a tremendous achievement and expects a fierce encounter this weekend.
"They have all the artillery coming for our game and we're going out to compete on all fronts," he said. "We have 25 Test matches available to us prior to the World Cup. I've said regularly that we're not going to give Test jerseys away but we cannot be exposed to injury issues (come RWC) and the best way to prevent that is to give players opportunities."
Scotland team to play Samoa in the Castle Lager Test Series at King's Park, Durban on Saturday 8 June, kick-off 2.15pm local time (1.15pm BST)
15 Greig Tonks (Edinburgh Rugby) uncapped
14 Sean Lamont (Glasgow Warriors) 76 caps, 9 tries, 45 points
13 Alex Dunbar (Glasgow Warriors) uncapped
12 Matt Scott (Edinburgh Rugby) 12 caps, 1 try, 5 points
11 Tim Visser (Edinburgh Rugby) 10 caps, 6 tries, 30 points
10 Tom Heathcote (Bath Rugby) 1 cap
9 Greig Laidlaw (Edinburgh Rugby) 18 caps, 2 tries, 16 conversions, 39 penalties, 159 points
1 Ryan Grant (Glasgow Warriors) 10 caps
2 Pat MacArthur (Glasgow Warriors) uncapped
3 Euan Murray (Worcester Warriors) 53 caps, 2 tries, 10 points
4 Grant Gilchrist (Edinburgh Rugby) 1 cap
5 Alastair Kellock (Glasgow Warriors) 52 caps, 1 try, 5 points
6 Alasdair Strokosch (Perpignan) 32 caps, 1 try, 5 points
7 Kelly Brown (Saracens) CAPTAIN 57 caps, 4 tries, 20 points
8 Johnnie Beattie (Montpellier) 21 caps, 3 tries, 15 points
Substitutes
16 Stevie Lawrie (Edinburgh Rugby) uncapped
17 Alasdair Dickinson (Sale Sharks) 24 caps, 1 try, 5 points
18 Geoff Cross (Edinburgh Rugby) 21 caps, 1 try, 5 points
19 Jim Hamilton (Gloucester) 46 caps, 1 try, 5 points
20 Ryan Wilson (Glasgow Warriors) 2 caps
21 Henry Pyrgos (Glasgow Warriors) 6 caps, 1 try, 5 points
22 Peter Horne (Glasgow Warriors) uncapped
23 Duncan Taylor (Saracens) uncapped
